Polyarnie Zori is a small city in the North of Russia that lives in the conditions of a severe polar night. We decided to use this natural phenomenon as a development point: in the next five years, despite natural conditions, this city will become bright, cozy and attractive place.

The first training camp in the history of the Arctic called “Polyarnie Zori – the City of Light” was held in the city of Polyarnie Zori from 5 to 11 of August. Practical designers from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and the Murmansk region have participated in this unique workshop.

 Over the course of the week, the camp participants tried to reach their main goal - the creation of plans for the architectural and street lighting of the whole city.

During the master classes, camp experts, specialists from IntiLED and LiDS lighting design school, gave the participants a solid theoretical base, shared their approach to lighting design, talked about the basic lighting techniques, about each stage of the project development, as well as about the possibilities of lighting equipment, provided by IntiLED for this camp. Each of the two teams had classic medium and high power spotlights, devices for contour lighting and building media facades, linear fixtures, as well as a large set of additional equipment for mounting and creating lighting effects.

The teams began work on their projects by analyzing the coverage of the city and discussing the future concept. Under the guidance of experienced mentors, the camp participants applied received information and began to experiment - conducted field modeling and created light installations using the landscape and city landmarks.

Finally, the teams presented two concepts for the integrated lighting design of the Polyarnie Zori at the strategic session. The participants proposed to not only increase the illumination in the city and diversify it with art objects, but also to introduce a “smart lighting” system, which will change the intensity and scenarios depending on the time of day. By the way, representatives of the regional government said during final day of the camp that this idea can be realized not only in Polyarnie Zori.

The camp and the strategic session are components of the ambitious “Polyarnie Zori – the City of Light” project, which is a part of “100 City Leaders” program of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. It is designed to be active for five years, and includes an accelerator of urban projects, work with mentors and experts, as well as a crowdsourcing platform for finding solutions and receiving offers.